NEWARK -- During his two decades behind bars, Paul J. Kamienski's once-wavy blond hair turned gray. His mother died. And the appeal of his double-murder conviction inched up and down the ladder of justice.

"There are thousands of these petitions that are filed every year, and very few are granted," said his lawyer, Timothy McInnis.

Kamienski, a one-time Passaic County funeral director with a taste for boats and a history of substance abuse, was convicted in 1988 of killing a husband and wife in a cocaine deal turned violent in Toms River. The couple, Henry and Barbara DeTournay, were found tied to cement blocks at the bottom of Barnegat Bay.

After years of state and federal appeals, a panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled last month that the facts simply did not support the case. Yes, prosecutors adequately proved Kamienski participated in the drug deal and helped dispose of the bodies. But they didn't prove he actually killed the couple, the three-judge panel ruled.

"We believe that no reasonable juror could conclude that the evidence admitted against Kamienski at his trial established that he was guilty of murder or felony murder beyond a reasonable doubt," Judge Theodore McKee wrote in the 27-page opinion.

The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office has asked the entire 3rd Circuit Court to review the panel's decision. Today, U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Chesler ordered Kamienski immediately released on $1 million bail.

Sam Marzarella, a supervising assistant Ocean County prosecutor, said his office is confident the jury's verdict against Kamienski was solid.

"We had 12 people who looked at the evidence," he said.

Kamienski grew up in Passaic, the grandson of Russian and Polish immigrants. His parents owned funeral homes in Passaic, Garfield and Wallington. The family spent summers in Lanoka Harbor, near Toms River.

After graduating from the University of Miami, Kamienski joined his father's business. In 1979, he marched as Grand Marshal in Garfield's Pulaski Day Parade.

Two years later, Kamienski's fiance was killed in a 1981 boating accident. He fell into a spiral of depression and substance abuse, Kamienski wrote in an online biography.

Kamienski wound up living on a boat at the Ocean Beach Marina in Lavallette.

In September 1983, authorities say Kamienski and two drug dealers shot and strangled the DeTournays on Sept. 19, 1983. The couple, from Florida, was found about a week later.